Adjustable double edge razor



Dec. 19, 1967 K,KUHN1 3,358,369

ADJUSTABLE DOUBLE EDGE` RAZOR Filed March 2l, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN VE NTOR LEOPOLD K. KUHNL BY www ATT'YS.

De.; 19, 1967 L. KKUHNL 3,358,369

ADJUSTABLEDOUBLE EDGE RAZOR Filed March 2l, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3 358,369 ADJUSTABLE DOUBLE EDGE RAZOR Leopold K. Kuhnl, Stratford, Conn., assgnor to Eversharp, Inc., Milford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 536,114 1 Claim. (Cl. .3D-60.5)

ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A safety razor of the double edge type having the guard mounted for adjusting movement relative to the blade seat. The spring which biases the blade seat and guard in opposite directions also biases a detent into engagement with castellations formed in an adjusting knob. The detent projects outwardly and co-operates with a stop on the knob to limit full adjustment to slightly less than one full turn.

The present invention relates to a new and improved adjustable double edge safety razor of an uncomplicated design which lends itself to economical manufacture. A unique detent and adjusting arrangement also forms a part of the invention and provides additional advantages which will become apparent on consideration of the objects and description.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved adjustable safety razor of uncomplicated construction.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improved adjustable safety razor which is inexpensive to manufacture and economical to assemble while being accurate in adjustment.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a new and improved safety razor having a novel detent means serving to maintain adjustment and provide an audible sound during adjustment.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent on consideration of the accompanying drawings and detailed description which follows:

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the parts forming the adjustable safety razor of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged broken cross sectional View of the safety razor of FIG. 1 with the parts assembled and a double edge blade clamped in shaving relation;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary `view taken generally along the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2 and illustrating the adjusting knob and detent arrangement;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view of the guide arrangement; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of the safety razor head taken along the lines 5 5 of FIG. 4 adjacent the end of the caps to illustrate the guiding relation between the guard member and the seat.

The basic elements forming the adjustable safety razor of the present invention are illustrated in the exploded perspective view of FIG. 1 and include a spider assembly 11, blade seat assembly 12, spring 13, guard member 14 and detent 15. Also included are an adjusting knob 16, threaded sleeve 17, tubular handle 18, bearing 20, operating knob 21, and rivet washer 22.

The spider and cap assembly 11 is of conventional or known form and includes a spider stem 23 having the lower end portion threaded as at 24 with the upper end attached to a conventional spider 25. On opposite ends of the spider 25 are provided transverse arms 26 and 27 which pivotally mount identical cap sections 28 and 30 on opposite sides of the spider 25. Additional details of this ICC construction may be found in my copending application Ser. No. 450,927, led Apr. 26, 1965, and entitled Adjustable Razor which has matured into U.S. Patent No. 3,293,744, granted Dec. 27, 1966.

The blade seat assembly 12 consists of a blade seat member 31 joined to a tubular seat mounting member 32 of tubular construction. As seen in the cross sectional view of FIG. 2, the blade seat member 31 may be joined to the mounting member 32 by swaging, spinning, riveting or the equivalent. The blade seat member 31 is provided with spider guide grooves 33 and 34 centrally positioned at opposite ends to slidably receive the downwardly projecting ends of the spider 25 to guide it as it reciprocates during opening and closing movement of the cap sections.

Vertical guides 35 and 36 are also disposed at opposite ends, however, to one side of the blade seat and co-operate with the pivot arms on the cap section 28 during vertical movement of the spider assembly 11. Similar guides 37 and 38 are symmetrically formed on the opposite side of the blade seat member 31 to receive the downwardly projecting arms on the cap section 30.

Guide ilanges 40, 41, 42 and 43 are formed at the corners of the blade -seat and are folded downwardly to present a vertical guide surface for co-operation with guide surfaces on the guard member 14. The guide auges 40-43 also form a stop to engage a flange on each of the pivot arms on the caps 28 and 30 to cause opening of the cap sections when the spider shifts relative to the blade seat. The spring 13 is of conventional design being a helical spring adapted for compressive loading between a blade seat assembly 12 and guard member 14.

The guard assembly 14 includes a guard member 44 having guard bar portions 45 and 46 at opposite margins. Suitable openings 47 and 48 may be positioned adjacent respective guard bars 45 and 46 to permit the shaving product to pass through during the shaving operation. The guard member 44 is provided with a central opening 50 thro-ugh which is received a tubular mounting neck 51. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tubular mounting neck is of increased diameter 53 at the upper end while the lower end is of smaller diameter as at 54, the juncture of the two ends forming a radially extending shoulder 55 which serves as an abutment for one end of the coil spring 13.

An axially extending slot 56 is formed along one side of the tubular mounting neck 51 and extends through a shoulder 52 into the enlarged cylindrical portion 53. The slot 56 is of sucient transverse width to receive the detent 15 with a sliding tit. The detent 15 is provided with a shoulder or notch 60 generally conforming to the shape and dimensions of the shoulder 55. Outwardly of and below the shoulder is an arcuate nose 61 which is adapted to co-operate with notch means formed in the adjusting knob 16 in a manner to be described.

The adjusting knob 16 shown in cross section in FIG. 2 is provided with a cylindrical bore 62 which is threaded at its lower end as at 63. At the upper end of the cylindrical bore 62, a shoulder 64 is provided with a series of notch means or castellations 65. As is evident in FIG. 3, the top of the castellations (shown in dotted lines) are formed on a plane which is substantially at right angles to the axis of the knob 16. An outer circumferential portion of the adjusting knob 16 may be provided with a series of splines, serrations or the like 66 to enhance the ease of gripping the knob during rotation. At the upper end of the knob is formed an axially projecting tongue 67 which co-operates with the detent 15 to form a stop in a manner to be described in greater detail.

The threaded sleeve 17 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with a central cylindrical Ibore 70 of suicient diameter to receive the tubular seat mounting member 32 of the blade seat assembly. The threaded sleeve 17 is provided with a portion of increased outside diameter adjacent the upper end which is externally threaded as at 71 to co-operate with the internal threads 63 in the adjusting knob 16. The central bore 70 of the threaded sleeve 17 may be counterbored as at 72 to admit the lower end of the mounting neck 51 of the guard assembly 14, thus permitting the shoulder 572 to engage the shoulder 64 on the adjusting knob 16.

The tubular handle 18 may be formed from plastic or any suitable material and is shaped to a generally frustoconical outer contour or the like with rib-like means to enhance the appearance of the razor assembly. A cylindrical bore 73 may be formed in the tubular handle 18 with counterbores 74 and 75 adjacent the upper end to receive the lower end of the tubular seat mounting rnember'and threaded sleeve 17 respectively. The lower end of the handle 18 is provided with a counterbore 76 having a spline or key-like projection positioned within the split 77 of the bearing 20 as it is inserted into the bore to prevent the bearing from rotating relative to the handle.

The operating knob 21 is provided with an enlarged upper end 86 and a radial shoulder l81 which define a bearing mounting area S2. The knob is also provided with a central bore 83 which is threaded at its lower end as at S4 to co-operate with the threads 24 on the lower end of the spider stem 23. The lower end of the operating knob 21 is provided with a counterbore 8S which terminates in a radial shoulder 86. The counterbore 85 is of sufficient diameter to accommodate the rivet washer 22 which is joined to the lower end of the spider ste'm 23. The stem is dimensioned so that the shoulder 86 is engaged by the rivet washer 22 when the caps reach the fully opened position to maintain the spider properly located within the spider guide grooves 32 and 34 as well as keeping remaining parts in assembled relation. i As seen in FIG. 2, when the component parts of the adjustable double edge razor of the present invention are assembled, a double edge razor blade 87 inserted and caps 28 an-d 30 -brought to the closed position, the blade 87 is clamped to the blade seat 31 with cutting edges 88 and S9 at opposite margins of the blade disposed immediately above the guard bars 45 and 46. Rotation of the adjusting knob 16 permits the clearance between the cutting edges 8S and 89 and the guar-d bars 4S and 46 to be variedlndicia for selection of a setting is provided on the outside of the adjusting knob 16 for handy reference. Rotation of the adjusting knob 16 causes the knob to move axially relative to the threaded sleeve 17. nasmuch as the shoulder 52 of the mounting neck is biased against the shoulder64 in the adjusting knob 16 through the force of the spring 13, the guard member will move in response 'to' rotation of the adjusting knob 16.

The threaded sleeve 17 is held against rotation by means of a rivet 90 which joins the handle '18, threaded sleeve 17, and tubular blade seat mounting member 32. Equivalent forms of fastening are equally well suited.

As seen in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5', throughout the razor shifting proper alignment -between the guard member 44 and blade seat member 31 is maintained through the guiding engagement of guide lugs 42 and 43 with the downwardly folded guide flanges 42 and 43 respectively. The bottom plan view of FIG. 4 is enlarged to more clearly illustrate this relation. An opening 91 is forme-d between the guard bar 46 and the guide ange 42. Through guiding on the rear surface of the guide flange 42 the opening 91 may be of sufcient dimension to preclude pulling of the hair and also permit cleansing by flushing. While two guide flanges 42 and 43' have been shown, it is obvious that any desired number up to four may be provided. y

After a consideration of the foregoing description, it is (lll apparent that the safety razor of the present invention is of simplified design which promotes economy in manufacture and assembly. The novel detent and adjusting knob arrangement is such that it utilizes the spring force 13 to provide bias to the detent producing an audible sound on rotation of the knob 16.

As seen in FIG. 3, as the knobY is rotated, the round nose 61 on the detent 15 will be forced from one notch to the other. The audible sound made by the detent being pushed into the next notches through the force of the compression spring 13 is of suicient intensity to be clearly heard and also permits selection of a setting or adjustment intermediate the numbered indicia on the'exterior of the adjusting knob 17. In addition, the detent serves to hold the knob in the adjusted position against accidental movement. The detent 15 is engaged by the axial tongue 67 on the knob 16 at opposite limits of adjustment to limit rotation of the adjusting knobto one full turn only. Since the detent 15 may be made of rather heavy gauge material and receives its bias from the spring 13, it will enhance ease of assembly as well as being less prone to failure over prolonged periods of use.

Upon a consideration of the foregoing, it will become obvious to those skilled in the art that various modications may be made without departing from the invention embodied herein. Therefore, only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated by the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

An adjustable safety razor of the double edge type comprising a tubular handle, razor blade clamping means carried by said tubular handle, said razor blade clamping means including a blade supporting seat member and a pair of cap sections, said bla-de supporting seat member having a tubular mounting portion joined to said tubular handle, said pair of cap sections being mounted on a spider stem disposed Within said tubular mounting portion and 'shiftable to cause said cap sections to close over said blade supporting seat member to clamp a razor bla-de between said blade supporting seat member and said cap sections, a guard member positioned below said blade supporting seat mem-ber, spring means urging said guard member away from said blade supporting seat member, adjustment means for incrementally varying the clearance between said guard member and said clamped razor blade Without affecting the clamping force on said razor blade, said adjustment means including athreaded sleeve held against rotational and axial movement relative to said blade supporting seat member and a complementary threaded adjusting knob threadably engaging said threaded sleeve, said adjusting knob having one end portion thereof engaging said guard member, said adjusting knob being rotatable relative to said handle and said threaded sleeve whereby said guard member may be adjusted relative to said 4blade supporting seat, an opposite end of said adjusting knob being provided with notch means, an axially movable detent received in an axially extending slot, said spring means urging said detent against said notch means to cause an audible sound and provide locating means for fine adjustment on rotational movement of said adjusting knob, Vand means on said adjusting knob to engage said detent to limit rotation thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,848,806 8/1958 Schnitzler et al 30-60.5 2,848,807 8/1958 Schnitzler et al 30-605 2,934,821 5/1960 Bailey et ai. 3io- 60.5 2,952,911 9/ 1960 Schnitzler et al fio-60.5

MYRON C. KRUSE, Primary Examinez'. 

